Indian Epigraphy c6.s1.12

c6.s1.12

Epigraphic records may be broadly classified under two groups: (1) those engraved by or on behalf of the ruling authority, and (2) those incised on behalf of private individuals or organizations. The largest number of epigraphs of the second category record donations made in favour of religious establishments or installation of images for worship. They are usually incised on the object that were donated or installed, and are, as a rule, small. In some cases, however, they mention the king during whose reign the grant was made or the installation took place. Innumerable dedicatory inscriptions, big and small, are engraved on the walls, etc., of reputed religious establishments and centres of pilgrimage, such as the temples at Bhubaneswar, Draksharama, Srikurmam, Simhachalam, Srirangam, Kanchipuram, Lalgudi and other places.⁹ The majority of the donations recorded in these epigraphs were made by pilgrims, some of whom were kings, chiefs or royal officers. In certain cases, people are known to have made donations in favour of such temples in *absentia*.¹ Pilgrims visiting the temples in the course of pilgrimage often carried with them a written eulogy with a view to getting it engraved on a temple wall after having made the desired donations.²